As they have in Israel as well. And in East Germany, on the border they used bullets. But in East Germany in the cities they did also use tear gas during demonstrations in the 80's. And this is my reference when I ask why the US police are behaving like the East German police.

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

kirtu wrote: And this is my reference when I ask why the US police are behaving like the East German police.

Kirt

Did you expect something more? They are mercenaries for hire: after witnessing their conduct both during the Anti-Globalization movement, the 2000 conventions, the anti-war marches and now even more so during the various country-wide Occupations-- it is clear that they are not on the side of the law, they are on the side of the same elite interests that control or infiltrate our government. The framework of this newest protest makes them so on edge because it is so close to the truth, pointing out the grotesque level of inequality our world has descended to -- the 1% is actually more like the .01% as many have been pointing out lately. I know there are many officers who are not happy about what they are ordered to do, but they are too scared not to obey.

Contentment is the ultimate wealth;Detachment is the final happiness. ~Sri Saraha

As they have in Israel as well. And in East Germany, on the border they used bullets. But in East Germany in the cities they did also use tear gas during demonstrations in the 80's. And this is my reference when I ask why the US police are behaving like the East German police.

Kirt

At least they're not being shot in massacres like in 1950s East Germany.

Equanimity is the ground. Love is the moisture. Compassion is the seed. Bodhicitta is the result.

"All memories and thoughts are the union of emptiness and knowing, the Mind.Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.Through the qualities of meditating in that way,Mental obscurations are purified and the dharmakaya is attained."

Pepper Spray Developer: It Has Become Fashionable to Use Chemicals on People with Opinions

In what appears to be his first television interview on the subject, Kamran Loghman, the developer of weapons-grade pepper spray and the policy for its use by US police departments, appeared on Democracy Now! to condemn how police forces have been using pepper spray on peaceful protesters in the country. He said he was “shocked” and bewildered to see UC Davis police pepper spraying students and the first thing that came to his mind was how the students could be his children “sitting down having an opinion” and being shut down forcibly by chemical agents.

There are several reasons I support the Occupy Wall Street movement. At one level, I see it as expressing a justifiable protest, long overdue, against the hijacking of the country's economy by the financial and corporate elite, who enhance their wealth to the detriment of the overwhelming majority of ordinary people. We have too many people unemployed and under-employed; too many without homes or adequate nutrition; too many students burdened with heavy debts; too many people without health insurance or access to affordable health care. Over the past three decades, the gap in wealth between the top one percent and everyone else has expanded almost tenfold. The wealthy have grown richer by resorting to unscrupulous financial practices, forcing the government to protect them from collapse and pushing too many people into poverty and debt. The corporate and financial elite manipulate politicians to their advantage. Thus government policies respond, not to the needs of people, but to the appetites of the corporate elite. This is an affront to economic and social justice and a threat to the viability of democracy, which is now just a pale shadow of a government truly “of, by, and for the people.”

However, I don't look at OWS movement solely in terms of its economic and political aspirations. At another level, I see OWS as a moral and even spiritual movement that is raising vital questions: "What ethical platform does this country stand on?" and "What kind of world do we want to create?" There are two fundamentally opposed ways of answering these questions. One sees our primary obligation to be the pursuit of self-interest. This position endorses competition as the driving force of progress and takes dominance over others as the mark of success. It treats people as disposable commodities, to be used for what they can yield and then discarded as “redundant.”

The other position sees our primary moral obligation to be to create a society—a nation and a planetary community—that gives everyone a fair opportunity to flourish and ensures that no one is left without support. From this perspective, government must provide a safety net that protects people from the pitfalls of poverty and personal calamity. From this perspective, supreme moral value is ascribed to care and compassion. Our social and political institutions must ensure that everyone enjoys an adequate standard of living, and has access to health care, education, and a clean environment.

I consider it a strength of the OWS movement that it hasn't reduced its agenda to a specific set of demands. Perhaps it is a weakness of the movement that it has focused primarily on economic injustice and has not, as yet, stressed other deformities in our social and ethical system. At times the movement seems inchoate, but I believe it is struggling to give voice to our need to rise to a new stage of consciousness from which we see that, as a species and as a global community, we must thrive together in unity, by giving primacy to love, care, generosity, and compassion.

—Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Basically, there is not even one buddha, only great wisdom. Bodhisattva Hsuan Hua

Reading up on the problems in Europe I am in shock. Basically there is an entire class of millionaires and billionaires living off welfare. Stealing tax money under false pretenses while giving nothing in return. Three quarters of the money supply may be this false economy. The word of the day is rehypothecation. Here is how it works;

CIBC(A "safe" Canadian bank that has 72 billion invested in this scheme.) buys 500$ worth of a stock or security in London from Broker A. 250$ cash and 250$ on margin for which they have “collateral” which may in itself be of dubious value. CIBC then has 500$ worth of assets on paper. But the 250$ they borrowed is ALSO considered an asset by Broker A and they can use that as collateral to buy securities on margin from Broker B. Who can then buy on margin from Broker C, etc. So 250$ of notional assets which may have little real world value to begin with turns into many thousands of dollars on the stock market. After going through many brokers hands this "money" is used to buy sovereign AA bonds. Bond yields may look like crap at 2%, but if you rehypothcate you can buy 4 of them. 2% bonds times four give an 8% return on a rock solid investment. If you want to take some risk why not Venezuelan bonds at 15%. That is a 160% ROI, all paid for by taxes on little people like you and me. Some economists estimate that 75% of Europe's money supply could disappear if one sovereign nation defaults. I should mention that London trading rules make these trades "off book", so they don't appear on the official balance sheets. This is the contagion whose name they dare not speak. Back from the dead, Fractional Reserve Banking.

So the point is these billionaires are on welfare. They steal from the state and give themselves billions in bonuses for being so smart. These bloated parasites(or as Republicans call them, "job creators") deserve to be in jail. This is why people are upset. Tax these scum into penury before the next bubble takes us down.

How about borrowing a currency at a rate of 1.5% investing in another currency whose debt pays 2.5% with both currencies on the currency market being approximated equally or close to, certainly not equal to the debt spread . Swapping the money essentially one for anotherOr betting through naked swaps that a debt deal (greek bonds) such as goldmans did....go flat so your swaps are redeemable. 60 cents on a dollar as opposed to a structured default rate of lesser amounts.Your interest being then...to see that government fail.

It going on and on.....in america at least manipulated opinion certainly but it is still opinion...and it is that the poor not the rich are the problem.Till se solve the problem of ignorance nothing be solved by putting anyone anywhere.

"This order considers that progress can be achieved more rapidly during a single month of self-transformation through terrifying conditions in rough terrain and in "the abode of harmful forces" than through meditating for a period of three years in towns and monasteries"....Takpo Tashi Namgyal.

Good post Will.....and I agree.I am a supporter of Occupy Wall Street...in spite of some of it's all-to-obvious problems.I hope that it will grow out of these problems as the movement matures...I guess we shall see.One of the things I'm personally worried about is what will happen if #OWS fails.Remember those riots in the U.K. a few months back?The media tried to paint them as the mere random rioting by a few young hooligans.But they weren't, they were the attempt by a group to express their anger against a system they saw as meaningless and without any hope of being beneficial to them...and those riots were how that group expressed their anger.My fear is that if Occupy Wall Street fails, similar riots will begin in the U.S.And those riots could be MUCH worse.That's why, in spite of it's faults, I hope that #OWS suceeds. I hate to think of the alternatives.But that's just my personal opinion.

Shame on you Shakyamuni for setting the precedent of leaving home.Did you think it was not there-- in your wife's lovely face in your baby's laughter?Did you think you had to go elsewhere (simply) to find it? from - Judyth Collin The Layman's Lament From What Book, 1998, p. 52 Edited by Gary Gach

Meanwhile, Germany’s attempt to save the Eurozone was hanging in the balance as Hungary and the Czech Republic claimed it would be damaging and protesters in Warsaw demanded Poland stands firm against Angela Merkel.

Amid fresh warnings that Europe is triggering a 1930s-style global depression, the German chancellor faced open rebellion against the key plank of her Brussels accord. The leaders of Hungary and the Czech Republic told a joint conference in Budapest they were ready to reject the planned treaty changes and implied move towards a centralised tax system. Czech prime minister Petr Necas said he was “convinced that tax harmonisation would not mean anything good for us”.

The word on the street is........ despite speaking against this thing....the euro union will collectively soon just start enmasse purchasing the bonds of its constituant member states.

AS america does....so it will be resolved in that manner. Depreciation of the euro I would guess will be the immediate consequence.Long term...yes, there will be more homogenization of the member states.

I am trying to time gold on this....till the bond announcement(if they announce it at all) gold should depreciate. Once done... gold should appreciate and regain its upward trajectory. Playing the news first then the thing. Another gamble

"This order considers that progress can be achieved more rapidly during a single month of self-transformation through terrifying conditions in rough terrain and in "the abode of harmful forces" than through meditating for a period of three years in towns and monasteries"....Takpo Tashi Namgyal.

ronnewmexico wrote:I am trying to time gold on this....till the bond announcement(if they announce it at all) gold should depreciate. Once done... gold should appreciate and regain its upward trajectory. Playing the news first then the thing. Another gamble

Good then....more stuff to give away My position established two days ago,not in gold but in miner.

"This order considers that progress can be achieved more rapidly during a single month of self-transformation through terrifying conditions in rough terrain and in "the abode of harmful forces" than through meditating for a period of three years in towns and monasteries"....Takpo Tashi Namgyal.